Richard Davenport

rdavenport@arkansasonline.com

Richard Davenport has covered recruiting for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and wholehogsports.com since 2007. He appears weekly on “The Morning Rush” with Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft on 95.3 FM in Fort Smith, 96.3 FM in Hot Springs, 104.3 FM in Harrison/Mountain Home and 99.5 FM in Fayetteville, and on “Out of Bounds” with Wess Moore and Joe Franklin on 103.7 FM in Little Rock.

A single winning ticket was sold for Powerball’s Christmas Eve jackpot of $1.817 billion — the second-largest U.S. lottery prize ever. The winner, who has not yet been publicly identified, bought the lucky ticket at a gas station outside Little Rock, Arkansas.

The winning numbers for Wednesday night’s drawing were 4, 25, 31, 52, 59,  with a Powerball of 19. 

The grand prize had a lump sum cash value of $834.9 million. A rush of ticket sales pushed the final jackpot total even higher than previously expected.

The winning ticket was sold at a Murphy USA in the town of Cabot, lottery officials in Arkansas said Thursday. No one answered the phone Thursday at the location, which was closed for Christmas, The Associated Press reported. 

The Powerball jackpot had been won once before on Christmas Eve, in 2011, and four times on Christmas Day, the game says. Powerball started in 1992.

The last time a Powerball jackpot was hit was on Sept. 6 in Missouri and Texas, when two tickets split a $1.787 billion top prize. The nearly four-month stretch between jackpots — 47 drawings — was a record for the most in a Powerball jackpot cycle, the game says.

This is only the second time in the game’s history with back-to-back winning jackpots topping $1 billion, Powerball said.

The $1.817 billion prize is second only to the $2.04 billion jackpot won in 2022 by a single ticket sold in Altadena, California, which was the largest in both Powerball and lottery history.

To win the jackpot, a ticket must match all five white balls and the red Powerball pulled during a drawing. Single winners of the top prize can choose between a lump sum payment or a payout via an annuity of one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each time. Both the lump sum and annuity total are before taxes. 

Other ticket-holders will also take home a tidy sum. Powerball says eight tickets in Tuesday night’s drawing matched all five white balls for a “Match 5” prize of $1 million (the prize total varies in California); 114 tickets won $50,000 prizes and 31 tickets won $100,000.

The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to game officials. Lottery jackpots have exploded in size over the last decade, while the odds of winning have gotten slimmer. 

Tickets cost $2 each and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 11 p.m. ET.

Wally Hall

whall@adgnewsroom.com

Wally Hall is assistant managing sports editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. A graduate of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock after an honorable discharge from the U.S. Air Force, he is a member and past president of the Football Writers Association of America, member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, past president and current executive committee and board member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, and voter for the Heisman Trophy. He has been awarded Arkansas Sportswriter of the Year 10 times and has been inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and Arkansas Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame.